US President Donald Trump and his administration are “begging for nuclear war,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Trump is “staging an extremely dangerous nuclear gamble on the Korean peninsula,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a written statement that also calls Trump a “nuclear demon” and a “disruptor of global peace.”

The comments came ahead of a joint US-South Korean military drill, scheduled to begin Monday. About 12,000 US military personnel and 230 planes are expected to participate in the drill, known as Vigilant Ace.